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It is imperative that the community install a stop sign at the corner of Brightwood and Questhaven. Is it going to take the tragedy of a child’s life before something will be done?? People coming down the hill are always driving in excess of 40 miles an hour. It is next to impossible to cross the street without having to stop traffic, especially in the afternoon hours. What’s going to happen when the kids go to the park by themselves?? Please consider our childrens’ safety. We need a stop sign there PERIOD!!!

I find it ironic that this post is about pedestrian safety and child safety, yet this little girl is riding her bike instead of walking it across the intersection. It is a perfect example of the need of some residents to push safety onto the developer rather than applying common sense.

If the intersection is so busy with speeding vehicles, why on earth would you be ok with your child riding a bike across the street? What if she falls and the bike pins her? What if her pant leg gets stuck in the bike chain and she can’t move? It is always safer for your child to get off her bike and walk it across the street.

Come on people! Lock your car doors. Close your garage doors. Teach your kids proper safety. You can avoid tragedy by using common sense! I don’t think it is up to the developer to protect us from ourselves!

If you have ever tried crossing this intersection, with bikes or no bikes, you would see that it is very dangerous. Not only is the speeding a concern, the island with trees and landscaping block the view of the oncoming traffic. I am sorry to say but I am waiting for the day that we hear the ambulance responding to an accident involving this intersection. We have many children in our community that use this park and I think it’s very important that they add a pedestrian crossing sign and a cross walk. Everytime we go to the park I feel like we are playing “Frogger”, with our precious children and speeding cars!!!

To question if this intersection needs a stop sign and cross walk is insane. Of course it does. It is a death trap. The developer and the lovely city of San Marcos should be ashamed of themselves for not having one in place already. Someone will be injured soon if not killed if this problem is not taken care of. On a foggy morning it is close to impossible to turn left there when there is low visibility. We have kids in our cars ready to go to school and in the fog its a risk to turn left as some car may come speeding by. Regardless of how one crosses a street does not excuse the speeding that goes on down Questhaven. People should be ashamed of themselves for how fast they drive. The streets are poorly planned here. Have you noticed that culdesacs do not have “no outlet” signs. I have, because people speed down Brightwood in hopes of getting back to San Elijo rd and then speed back up in frustration. Just another lovely way our developer and city watch out for us. Its disgusting. Yes a crosswalk and stop sign are needed ASAP!

A 4-way stop is needed at this intersection. Children walking to and from school are at risk. In the morning, children from developments adjacent to Crest View cross Questhaven and walk down Brightwood Drive to school. After school, they walk up Brightwood Drive and cross Questhaven. Stop signs make sense at this intersection.

It also makes sense that drivers who use Questhaven should SLOW DOWN when driving on Questhaven. Questhaven isn’t a time-saving speedway to shave off a few seconds from a driver’s travel time. Now granted, I haven’t used a radar gun to clock the speed at which drivers travel through the Questhaven/Brightwood intersection, but I’ve heard drivers accelerate as they near the intersection coming down the hill. Moreover, I’ve had a difficult time trying to make a left turn on to Questhaven from Brightwood Drive because the cars traveling toward the hill from adjacent developments are traveling at excessive speeds.

Even if there wasn’t a park at the intersection, a 4-way stop is needed to provide a “brake” in acceleration.

I have to agree that some type of traffic management has to be put into place at the intersection of Brightwood/Hollowbrook and Questhaven. When the upper communities starting opening in SEH, the traffic at the intersection was manageable; however as all the communities have filled in and now Venzano has opened outside SEH, the traffic is constant. As landscaping has grown in, it’s become impossible for pedestrians to clearly see traffic in either direction and for drivers to see pedestrians. Even in absence of a 4-way stop, signage is lacking — nothing to indicate to drivers that a park is ahead, no indication of “no outlet” for the cul de sacs or Questhaven. Once San Elijo connects with Twin Oaks Valley, the issue is just going to grow. While I understand that the City is ultimately responsible, as long as this community is still governed by the developer, they need to listen to residents. The developer needs to take action on behalf of the safety of their residents and lobby the city to install a 4-way stop and crosswalk. The last thing the developer would want is negative PR when a child and/or parent is injured in the intersection and residents have been asking for traffic management to prevent it.

I agree that a 4 way stop sign at this intersection is in desperate need for all the good (read: common sense) reasons that you all have been pointing out.
I will bring it up at the next HOA meeting and listen to the recommendations that the developper may have on the subject.

I spoke with John Fraher, our previous Crestview representative on this issue as I recalled this same issue had been addressed in the past.
In June 2005, John appeared before the San Marcos Traffic Safety Commission regarding intalling a four-way stop sign at Questhaven and Brightwood Dr. A traffic engeneer studied the intersection and recommended no stop sign be installed, due to a number of reasons, but one of which was drivers wouldn’t expect a stop coming down the hill. The commission then voted and adopted his recommendation.
I will bring it up again in our next HOA meeting, but short of having a large support from the community, I am afraid it would be in vain.

It is so good to see people finally paying attention to the fact that we have a Park on Questhaven and the speed limit is 25 mph. I have been practically run down in my car many many times by the people who insist on speeding.

Is it going to take someone being fatally injured before anyone really cares? Why do we have doggy bags on every trail before we have a stop sign?

It is not the policy of the City of San marcos to install speed bumps on public streets, so that wouldn’t work. As for the stop sign, I remember this issue coming up before the Commission, and it was determined that the traffic volume is insufficient to justify a STOP sign; if STOP signs are placed in locations where they are not “warranted” by a set of standards that are recognized by the courts, then they become uneforceable – meaning that if a ticket is given at such a location, it is very likely that it will be tossed out of court. Having an unwarranted STOP is just as dangerous as having no STOP at all – once word gets out that the tickets are tossed, people won’t pay any attention to it at all, and those who do pay attention or feel that it is a safety measure will have a false sense of security as a result.

The best thing to do in this situation is to entreat your fellow residents to slow down, to have those same residents get their visitors to slow down, and be vigilant in the area – STOP signs by themselves actually won’t slow people down in the long run; rather, studies show they’ll cause people to speed up on the opposite side.

“if STOP signs are placed in locations where they are not “warranted” by a set of standards that are recognized by the courts, then they become uneforceable – meaning that if a ticket is given at such a location, it is very likely that it will be tossed out of court.” – Former Traffic Commissioner

So, when a child is killed crossing the street, will it be “warranted” then, or does child safety not fall into “the set of standards recognized by the courts”?

We don’t need the courts to tell us what we need, or a former bureaucrat to cite biased studys. There is a park at the intersection and we need some sort of traffic control.

The same applies to Thorley as many children cross there also. I have dodged 50+MPH traffic in both directions at that intersection.

Stop signs wont slow traffic? One trip down Rancho Santa Fe toward Manchester will prove your study wrong. Talk about slow. Maybe we can take a couple of those “unwarranted” stop signs from them.

Traffic control would also prevent speeders from tailgating down the hill. My wife and I are constantly being tailgated while driving 25-30MPH down Questhaven. That’s putting my wife and kids at risk.

How do you suppose we “entreat our fellow residents” to slow down? I have tried talking to some of the more egregious offenders and my neighborhood, only to have my wife be tailgated more aggressively. Also, many of the speeders are not residents of the area, so that plan wont work.

It’s not a matter of if a tragedy will happen, it’s a matter of when. We need some sort of traffic control on Questhaven before it happens.

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